The Redwood country: History, language, folklore

by Lynwood Carranco

246 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Chason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a “collection of articles on the Redwood Country that appeared in professional journals” in the 1960s and early 1970s compiled by Lynwood Caranco, a historian based in Humboldt County. It covers a wide range of topics, from the stories of individuals of local renown like the writer Bret Harte to the extreme prejudice against Chinese immigrants who were expelled and banned from living in Humboldt County for more than half a century. The articles included paint a picture of a region largely isolated by geography up until the railroads and the redwood highway were constructed, allowing people easier access to this rough country. I found the story of Bret Harte the most compelling because he ended up having to flee to San Francisco after writing a story about the massacre of nearly 70 members of the peaceful Wiyot Tribe, mostly women and children, by local white men on February 26, 1860, who suspected the Wiyots were aiding the more violent native tribes who lived in the mountains. The full text of Harte’s article of February 28, 1860, which appeared in The Northern Californian is reprinted in this book. The men who committed the massacre were never apprehended, largely because local law enforcement didn’t appear to take issue with the crime. Harte fled because he was afraid he would be lynched. It’s kind of crazy to me that these events took place a little more than 150 years ago, but it’s indicative of how much the country has changed since. Other articles cover the history of the railroads in the region, the story of two families whose feud ended in an extremely deadly shootout, and a dialect called “Boontling” that evolved in Boonville in the 1880s that was used by locals through the Second World War and was completely indecipherable to anyone from outside the area. Service members who sent letters home from the wars overseas had their correspondence censored due to national security concerns, but the letters sent by the soldiers from Boonville weren’t censored because the people tasked with redacting the letters couldn’t make sense of what the letters said. Bootling is no longer in use because it died with the old timers from the area, but there’s a pretty exhaustive glossary of terms listed in this book that’s pretty interesting.